


All This Trouble Over A Plant

by Sounddrive



Category: Transformers Animated (2007)
Genre: Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Fluff and Mush, Fluff without Plot, Gen, M/M, Mistletoe, Romantic Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-27
Updated: 2018-01-27
Packaged: 2019-03-10 05:25:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13495810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sounddrive/pseuds/Sounddrive
Summary: “Humans do have strange customs. Apparently, hanging the mistletoe was originally because of a goddess from one of their myths had 'overlooked' it because the plant was used as a weapon against someone she held dear.”“Yeesh,” Optimus winced.“And thus they hang it up so that humans would never overlook it again, though from what I can see it's not used in that tradition no longer.”





	All This Trouble Over A Plant

**Author's Note:**

> Measurements of Time: Megacycle: ≈ 2.6 Earth Hours (156 Minutes)

As bitter cold winds blasted through Detroit, the snowflakes came down in sheets.

Steam came off of Optimus's frame upon his return to base. Thank the AllSpark the heater was finally back online. Once the Prime was past the door, he transformed to bipedal mode and promptly shut the door behind himself.

For a nano-click, Optimus cautiously looked upward. Upon confirmation of the absence of a certain plant, he exhaled in relief.

He looked toward the monitors; Ratchet was manning them. The moment the medic noticed the other's return, he waved.

“How's the weather out there?”

Before Optimus could answer, the entire building shook. They looked to the ceiling as the lights flickered erratically. From the inner confines of the base, echoing, they could hear Bulkhead and Bumblebee.

“HANG ON LITTLE BUDDY-!”

“ _AHHHHHHHHHHHH!”_

As fast as the wind came to rattle these metal walls, it died down just as quickly. The lights flickered for a while, eventually righting themselves. The base was intact.

Collectively, they all exhaled in relief.

“So, as I was saying-”

“The weather should calm down by the end of the night, according to the news reports,” Optimus confirmed.

“How's Sari?” Ratchet glanced to the monitors before flicking back to Prime.

“She's...holding steady,” Optimus murmured. “The police department is still searching for her father. I made sure she was safe in her room before I left.”

The medic nodded. “I have about a megacycle left on monitor duty.”

“And so you do,” Optimus agreed. “I'll be back; I need to take care of something.”

“You remember where the antifreeze is?”

“Yes!” Optimus replied, waving it off. As he passed by the living quarters, he ventured toward the doorway that had a screen-styled entrance. Once he was within proximity, the door beeped.

Instead of the typically smooth transition of the screen going down-then-up, the bundled screen almost smacked the Prime in the face plates. A gale had kicked up outside, and it blasted through the room.

“Prowl!?” Optimus narrowed his optics. There was at least six feet of snow piling in front of the hole in the wall, beside the bottom of Prowl's tree.

Optimus held his arms out in front of him, only partially able to shield his viz scanners to see through the flurry of snow. He eventually noticed the Cyber-Ninja, with a menagerie of tools in his servos and against the wall beside him, and _covered_ in snow.

The Cyber-Ninja had been working on this temporary barricade against the elements since this morning. At this point, Prowl had gotten only half of the hole covered up.

Prowl grabbed sheets of metal, inlaid with rather strong magnets at the ends, and positioned them horizontally against the hole. He did not seem to notice Optimus until he turned around to pick up a magnet that had escaped the board it was attached to.

“Ah!” Prowl gasped, startling Optimus in turn. Once the moment passed, the Cyber-Ninja inquired, “Prime, what brings you here?”

“An extra set of servos?” Optimus offered.

Prowl gladly accepted the help.

It took the better part of half a megacycle, half of that spent fumbling around to take stray magnets off of themselves and slapped back onto the wall. Nonetheless they got the hole covered up. They placed a thick sheet over the entire length of the erected barrier, with the hope to lessen the shrill whistling of the wind.

Optimus inspected their handiwork a moment. It looked like it would hold, for the most part.

“Now, if the weather gets any worse, we could-” Optimus blinked, realizing he could hear Prowl's denta chattering.

He turned to see his black and gold teammate. The Cyber-Ninja's arms were wrapped around himself. Prowl's armor plating had flattened flush against his derma, the engine revving continuously.

Optimus rebooted his optics. “Prowl, are you...?”

“I'm fine,” the other retorted. The Cyber-Ninja shuffled to a corner opposite the barricaded section of the wall, huddling into it. Some chunks had fallen off by now, but Prowl was still covered in snow.

Optimus excused himself for a moment, leaving the room. He returned a few cycles later, some antifreeze for the both of them, and a large thermal blanket big enough to cover the smaller bot.

“Much appreciated,” Prowl murmured, burying himself in the blanket. He revved his engine a few more times, the warmth soon permeating into the provided cover. He wiggled deeper into his self imposed cocoon, taking a sip of the open container of antifreeze.

“Mind if I join you?” the Prime murmured. Prowl nodded, the mouth of the container still against his lips. He scooted so that the former Academy bot would have room. Once Optimus was situated, they sat in comfortable silence.

Eventually, Optimus reached over to Prowl, carefully pulling the slimmer bot over to himself. The hold wasn't at all constricting; it was loose enough to where Prowl could easily wiggle out from.

“Prime, you do know that my equilibrium sensors will-”

“Consider this me helping to speed up the process,” Optimus murmured. He cleared his throat, rubbing his neck.

After a brief pause, Prowl could only chuckle. As Prowl crisscrossed his legs, Optimus wrapped his arms around Prowl's waist, the Prime's servos settling under the black and gold bot's own.

Optimus's face plates quickly turned purple. He stammered, “So, considering I did not see any of the 'mistly toes' Bumblebee attempted to hang up from earlier today, I take it that he gave up?”

“The plants are referred to as 'mistletoe',” Prowl politely corrected, adding, “and in terms of Bumblebee's antics, he did. I succeeded in taking down every last accursed plant.”

So that was why the hole wasn't covered already. But...

“How many was that, exactly?” Optimus murmured, unsure whether or not he truly wanted to know.

“About two dozen of them. Bumblebee got... _creative_.”

“Leave it to Bumblebee to misinterpret something and blow it out of proportion,” Optimus sighed, shaking his helm. Prowl could only scoff in agreement.

“Humans _do_ have strange customs. Apparently, hanging the mistletoe was originally because of a goddess from one of their myths had 'overlooked' it because the plant was used as a weapon against someone she held dear.”

“Yeesh,” Optimus winced.

“And thus they hang it up so that humans would never overlook it again, though from what I can see it's not used in that tradition no longer.”

“...Huh. Oh, hang on a nanoklik-” Optimus shifted a moment, digging into his subspace.

Prowl raised an optical ridge, unsure of where this was going. He watched as the Prime poked around until Optimus pulled out a tiny, by Autobot standards, resealable plastic baggie. Inside was a sprig of the damn flora that Prowl had worked to remove from their base for the entirety of the afternoon.

 _“Where_ did you get that?” the Cyber-Ninja inquired. He sat upright and tilted his helm upward to get a better look at it.

“It's not the real thing. Plastic.” Optimus passed the baggie to Prowl for the latter to observe. “On patrol, some of the little organics were selling these before the snow storm moved in. One of the older ones saw me and gave it to me-”

“Did you actually pay them for this?” Prowl emphasized by pinching the top of the baggie between the tips of his finger pads, dangling it in front of Prime's face plates.

Optimus leaned back, replying, “Well, I tried to-!”

 _“Tried_ to?” Prowl turned the baggie over and over in his servos, contemplative.

Settling back in the position where he once was, Optimus explained, “One of the younger ones pulled the first one aside and after a few nanokliks, the first one pretty much passed it to me. I think it was a prank, but the thought was nice?” The Prime could only shrug at this point.

Optimus was about to comment further, only for him to freeze. His systems ground to a halt, processing the fact that Prowl had worked the mistletoe out of the small baggie it was in.

The Cyber-Ninja was settled on his knees, had the mistletoe held over both their helms, and had pressed his olfactory sensor against Optimus's own.

Between the two of them, neither had ever heard Optimus's engine rev so loudly. At least, not like this.

Prowl lowered his arm, a smug smile upon his face plates. Optimus's own was the deepest shade of purple, which he immediately covered with his servo.

“Are you all right, Prime?” Prowl inquired.

“...I'll live.”

Bemused, Prowl set aside his can of antifreeze down on the floor. He settled the upper half of his back strut against Optimus's shoulder now. The blanket that once was wrapped up and over the Cyber-Ninja's shoulders had now dropped, settling around his waist.

Optimus pretended not to notice.

“I have about seventy to seventy-five cycles before I got monitor duty,” the Prime mumbled.

“Hm, and?” Prowl's servo found Optimus's once again, their digits lacing together.

 _“And..._ I think I'm not going to be able to move for a while-” Optimus nuzzled the back of Prowl's helm, “-because you think I am a secondary recharge station.”

Prowl could only chuckle. He pulled the blanket back up to cover his shoulders, settling deeper into Optimus's warmth.

That was just fine for the both of them.

 

**Author's Note:**

> This is a very belated Christmas fic that was working around my head. It was a blast to write all the same, and I hope you guys enjoyed it too!


End file.
